Joe Biden’s US$7,000 Rolex caused a stir on Inauguration Day – the Swiss-made watch is a far cry from past presidents’ low-profile timepieces

The US president is not the first to wear a Rolex, sharing the fashion preference with Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump

But since Bill Clinton, most US leaders have worn low-profile or US-origin watches, from Clinton’s Timex Ironman to Barack Obama’s Shinola and Jorg Gray

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Joe Biden’s choice to wear a US$7,000 Rolex watch on the day he was sworn in did not pass without comment. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 9:33am, 26 Jan 2021Updated: 11:12am, 26 Jan 2021

Americans tend to notice everything about an incoming president at their inauguration, and thus Joe Biden’s choice to wear a US$7,000 Rolex watch on the day he was sworn in did not pass without comment.

Nor did the fact that the timepiece was made in Switzerland escape attention, as it marked one of the new president’s first breaks with his predecessors, who chose watches a bit more quotidian and even manufactured domestically – the type of industry Biden says he wants to promote.

Biden’s stainless steel Rolex Datejust “is a far cry from the Everyman timepieces that every president not named Trump has worn conspicuously in recent decades”, The New York Times wrote, referring to just-departed head of state Donald Trump.

The new president is of course not the first to wear a Rolex, sharing the fashion preference with Dwight Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson and Ronald Reagan.

Biden is not the first USpresident to wear a Rolex. Photo: Getty Images

But since the presidency of Bill Clinton, American leaders have tended towards more low profile or patriotic timepieces.